Together

   Alone with my thoughts yesterday I found myself reflecting on how I train and how those around me affect it. Pushing myself to my limits when it is just me pushing is full, and I mean totally full, of excuses. I hold back, I cheat, I excuse my excuses. On the flip side of that, when I am amongst my fellow Kung Fu brethren, I approach it much differently. Then there is when I am instructing, different approach then as well. 

   These different levels of engagement have never bothered me before, but they do now. The subject has been brought up many many times before, both in structured classes and in the IHC. Training in a silo, accountability, eye for detail, practicing with intent, one on ones, reaching out for help, being more resilient, it has been there all along. 

   None of this should be new to me, I hear what is being said but am I listening to and understanding what is being said? I will admit that no I have not been. My ego is and has been in the drivers seat for a very long time, I am but a passenger. When I train alone, it is good enough, but for who?  For me, for you, for anyone? When I train in a group, same question should arise right?

   With the evolution of the IHC I need to understand my training better. When am I training for mastery and when am I training for myself? Should they not be the same?? 

   I cannot exist as a martial artist by myself, this I know. I need the comradery that it brings, the togetherness. Even the concept of together separately applies here, not just for the flow of my Kung Fu but the very existence of my Kung Fu. I cannot do this alone. Only the presence of my fellow travelers in this everlasting martial arts journey can sustain me and feed my quest for being better than I was yesterday.

   Anyways, this is what happens when I have a Saturday alone with just my thoughts rambling around in my melon. I feel that theses are all valid questions that I need to answer, so I will endeavor to by using the resources so generously offered to me by Silent River. 

Push Ups  12850 , 

Sit Ups  12268

Sparring  700 min

1609KM  1595.98 km

Acts of Kindness  1400 recorded

Hand Form  400

Weapon Form  400

Mastery recited 35